Dual: Parallel Trouble Adventure A Special Day
by NefCanuck
Summary: The women of Dual celebrate Kazuki Yotsuga's birthday....


Dual: Parallel Trouble Adventure - A Special Day  
  
Authours notes:  
  
I'll keep this short & sweet, I no own this anime so you no sue my ass into the turf okay? Gracias  
  
Comments can be sent to: amslerd@sympatico.ca  
  
Kazuki Yotsuga woke up that Saturday morning to sunlight streaming through the windows to his room in the Sanada's house. He blinked in surprise as he winced at the daylight flooding the room. Normally his alarm should have gone off by now and with it the chaos that always followed. Either one of his housemates, D the female "bioriod" would be pressing the snooze bar on his alarm clock and offering a toneless "Good Morning Kazuki". Or, worse yet Yayoi Schwael, their neighbour, would be there either instead of, or in tandem with D, offering her own greeting, which was far more cheerful and usually delivered in a sultry tone. If Kazuki was particularly unlucky that day, he might even find Mitsuki Rara, yet another housemate, curled up beside him in his futon, murmuring his name softly in her sleep. This was usually followed by Mitsuki Sanada, the other female with whom Kazuki lived, walking in and slapping Kazuki in the face, having jumped to the wrong conclusions as to why he was being woken up in this manner. The fact that the normal routine was seemingly disrupted for no reason that Kazuki could fathom, made him both glad for the respite and wary as to what would happen in its place. Shrugging Kazuki got dressed and headed downstairs, unaware of what he was about to be facing and the fact that it had been brewing for nearly a week...  
  
**Last Monday  
  
Yayoi Schwael was Kazuki's teacher at school and his commanding officer when they were at the Earth Defense Headquarters. Normally Yayoi was a reserved person while on the grounds of the Nanjyo Private Academy, choosing to focus on her duties as a teacher and more precisely her favourite student Kazuki, but today she was acting like she belonged there as a student, humming to herself happily as she made her way home that day. In her bag she had copies of her students vital records. She had intended to use them to determine the order in which her students would be grouped for their next assignments, however when she had gotten to Kazuki's records while going over them in the teachers lounge, she had to bite her lower lip from crying out in happiness. Kazuki's birthday was coming up this Saturday! She could hardly believe her good fortune, believing that she alone knew the magic date and planning to surprise Kazuki with something very special indeed. Kazuki held a special place in her heart, for it was he that had risked his life to save her when she was nearly killed during a Rara Army attack.   
  
Yayoi could still remember the first time she saw him. Kazuki was calling out to her that day as she was attempting to escape her damaged Core robot. Kazuki was trying to see if she was all right even as she told him weakly to run away from the Rara robot that was approaching. How exactly it happened Kazuki had never said, but he had defeated the Rara robot and the last thing she remembered was looking up at his panting face and snuggling into his chest, smiling with contentment. Ever since that time she had though of nothing but looking after his every need and with the marking of another year he would be that much closer to her looking after his 'every' need. It had taken some convincing to persuade Commander Sanada to put her in charge of the Core Robot pilots training, but she was like her grandmother Reika Nanjyoin in one key respect, when she wanted something, she made it happen and woe unto anything that stood in her way. While on the base at the Earth Defense Headquarters she was closer to him than even at school and so there were far fewer prying eyes when she did things like 'guiding' his hands during target practice or 'accidentally' breathing in Kazuki's ear when she gave her instructions to him during drills while the two of them were in the simulator cockpit together. Yayoi made her way into the house she had rented beside the Sanada house and changed into clothes suitable for cleaning the house next door.  
  
Afterwards as Yayoi opened the door that joined the two houses humming "Happy Birthday" to herself, she was mildly surprised to find D the bioroid seated on the floor in Kazuki's room, seemingly staring into space. Yayoi looked at D with concern "Is something wrong D?" The bioroid looked at Yayoi with its one visible, unblinking, human looking eye "Mitsuki Sanada has requested that I stay upstairs out of her way while she cleans the house and since Kazuki is out with his school friends..." she trailed off, never betraying a hint of emotion as usual. Yayoi could hardly believe that Mitsuki could be so cruel, sure D wasn't exactly a sparkling conversationalist but to order her to stay upstairs all alone was the height of callousness. Yayoi grinned and an evil glint came to her eye. Yayoi didn't consider D a direct threat to her pursuit of Kazuki as D was both younger in appearance than Kazuki and Kazuki treated D much like a younger sister, so she felt her secret was safe to share. Yayoi spoke "D, do you know what day Saturday is?" D replied in her flat monotone "the 16th, why?" came the response. Yayoi smiled "Now keep this a secret D, but the 16th also happens to be Kazuki's birthday". D sat there unblinking "What is a birthday?" Yayoi explained that a 'birthday' was the day that one was born and that it was usually celebrated with ones friends. D didn't fully grasp the meaning but when she realized that what Yayoi said meant she would be with Kazuki, she nodded her approval mechanically and the pair left the house by means of Yayoi's entrance to go looking for a birthday card that D could give to Kazuki.  
  
Downstairs Mitsuki Sanada stared at the calendar and sighed in exasperation. She knew that Kazuki's birthday was on the 16th, hell, she had almost every fact about him memorized, thanks to her father's brilliant idea to make the two of them siblings in order to avoid questions about a boy living in their house. Yet here she sat staring at the calendar, completely unsure of what to get him. Part of her wanted nothing more than to ignore the whole thing and yet there was another part of her that wanted nothing more to surprise him and to see that oddly cute, bemused expression of his when he was caught completely off guard in surprise. So she sat, staring at the calendar, sighing as the internal battle raged on.  
  
Yayoi and D made their way to a local hobby store. Kazuki had often spoken longingly about the collection of models that he had left behind in his original world and Yayoi thought a model kit or two might provide him some happy memories. However on the way there, they ran into Mitsuki Rara, who was on her way back to the Sanada residence having finished her shift at the Earth Defense Forces cafeteria. "Hello D" Mitsuki smiled brightly "and where would you and Yayoi be heading today?" she asked in her cheerfully innocent tone. Yayoi was panicking now and hoping against hope that D wouldn't spill their little secret.  
  
Unfortunately D was utterly guileless and told Mitsuki Sanada exactly what they were doing that day and why they were doing it. Mitsuki Sanada looked up at Yayoi "You never told me that Kazuki's birthday was on the 16th. Does Mitsuki Sanada know?" Yayoi reddened slightly and in a low voice whispered "No and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell her, please?" Yayoi said this last sentence with clasped hands and a look of utter pleading on her face. Mitsuki Rara smiled "All right..." Yayoi visibly exhaled "...if you let me join you in whatever it is you have planned for Kazuki". Yayoi blanched at this, for while she had some perfectly innocent ideas that she was willing to share while D was there, she had a few 'not so innocent' ideas that were definitely not meant to be shared and she was afraid that Mitsuki Rara would horn her way into them, in her annoyingly non-pushy way. Yayoi started to protest that maybe that wasn't such a good idea when Mitsuki Rara, seeing Yayoi's reluctance turned on her heel. "Was she giving up?" Yayoi thought to herself "That's definitely not like her at all". Mitsuki Rara spoke "Well, maybe I can join in together with Mitsuki Sanada and together...". Yayoi blanched quite visibly and agreed, reluctantly, to add Mitsuki Rara to the little group. Yayoi rationalized this turn of events to herself, believing that it was better to have Mitsuki Rara where she could keep an eye on her and keep her from doing anything Kazuki might find more interesting than any ideas she had in mind.  
  
Later that week the three of them met in the kitchen of the Sanada residence, Mitsuki Sanada having gone off to do grocery shopping with Kazuki, a fact that Yayoi didn't find appealing, but it gave them a chance to discuss what they were going to do for Kazuki's birthday. Yayoi spoke up "I think we should do something that would really surprise him, any ideas Mitsuki?" Mitsuki thought for a moment, smiled and leaned in towards Yayoi and muttered something in her ear. D cocked her head to one side, not understanding the need for secrecy. Yayoi blinked at Mitsuki Rara "Are you sure you want to do something like that?" Mitsuki Rara nodded "Yes, and besides, it might even be fun" Yayoi sat there blinking for a moment before a grin spread across her face and she nodded in agreement with the proposal. D remained silent, wondering to herself just what was going on but as was her way she kept silent about any questions she might have had.  
  
Mitsuki Sanada sighed in frustration, taking Kazuki shopping with her was supposed to be giving her ideas for what to get him for his birthday, but instead he merely stood silently as if they were on the base, waiting for her to issue her next order. Sighing to herself she wondered "Why is he just standing there? Doesn't he have a spine for crying out loud?" Kazuki let his eyes wander for a moment as they moved along the shopping district and he happened to see a model of an M1 Abrams tank in a hobby store and his eyes lit up in recognition. "Gotcha" Mitsuki Sanada chuckled to herself even as she moved on to the next item on her shopping list and Kazuki dutifully followed her into the next store.  
  
**That Saturday morning  
  
Kazuki made his way downstairs towards the kitchen yawning, D was standing outside the kitchen and handed him a plain white envelope offering her usual toneless "Good Morning" and before Kazuki could ask what the envelope was about she disappeared into another room. Puzzled Kazuki walked into the kitchen and the sight therein made him stand there slack jawed in shock...  
  
In the middle of the kitchen stood a cake as large as Kazuki with the words 'Happy Birthday' stenciled on it. Kazuki blinked in surprise and made his way towards the cake, but before he got there, the lid of the cake popped off and what emerged from the cake was even more shocking. Yayoi & Mitsuki Rara emerged from within the cake, both clad in very tight dresses and together on cue they began singing 'Happy Birthday'. Yayoi looked to be having the time of her life while Mitsuki Rara seemed to be uncomfortable, whether it was the restrictive dress or the situation Kazuki couldn't tell. There was a noise from the cupboard and Kazuki opened it sighing, afraid of what he might find in there.   
  
Inside he found Mitsuki Sanada, bound and gagged, with a box addressed to him at her feet. Mitsuki Sanada had found Yayoi and Mitsuki Rara earlier that morning setting up their surprise and had threatened to spill the beans to Kazuki. In response, Yayoi & Mitsuki Rara had then decided to stuff her in the closet until after they had sprung their surprise on the birthday boy. Commander Sanada walked into the kitchen having heard the commotion and after blinking twice at the scene of utter chaos, wished Kazuki a happy birthday and left the scene as he had found it, with the three females arguing and Kazuki sighing even as he read the simple card D had handed him with its 'Happy Birthday' message.  
  
Kazuki sighed to himself and made a mental note to stay at the base next year for his birthday, even as a piece of the cake flew by.  
  
END 


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